Modern · National Gallery of Art · 46716

Head of a Woman

Amedeo Modigliani, c.1911-1912

The elongated head and neck of a person with stylized features is carved from beige-colored limestone for this freestanding sculpture. Though mostly carved smooth, the surface of the porous limestone is pocked and textured. In this photograph, the face is angled to our right. Short bangs line the narrow forehead of the tall, oval face. The hair flaring around the crown and behind the tidy, oval ear we see is roughly carved. The marquis-shaped eyes are set high on the face. Eyebrows immediately over the eyes join to make a long, blade-like nose that nearly reaches the bottom of the oval face. The arrow-shape of the nose ends just above a half-moon-shaped lip over a round chin. The long neck continues to a block of limestone that acts as the base. The sculpture is photographed in front of a background that lightens from charcoal gray across the top to nearly white across the bottom.

National Gallery of Art · National Gallery of Art, Washington · Chester Dale Collection · CC0 · Public domain

Artist: Amedeo Modigliani
Date: c.1911-1912
Medium: limestone
Dimensions: 65.2 × 16.51 × 24.8 cm (25 11/16 × 6 1/2 × 9 3/4 in.)
Era: Modern

Why it matters

Head of a Woman, dated c.1911-1912, is catalogued by National Gallery of Art as a work in limestone. The museum attributes the work to Amedeo Modigliani. The recorded dimensions are 65.2 × 16.51 × 24.8 cm (25 11/16 × 6 1/2 × 9 3/4 in.). This factual page is generated from the museum catalogue and links directly to its source record.

National Gallery of Art collection record